Year 5 are asking "Where and when is our school noisiest?" in a local fieldwork unit taught over two lessons. Each of six groups codes a micro:bit V2 to measure the sound level with its microphone every ten seconds, send the number by radio with its site letter and also log it to the board's own memory; the teacher's hub micro:bit, plugged into a laptop, receives the numbers and MakeCode draws them as live lines on the board. Groups predict which site will be loudest, then staff place the boards at agreed spots within radio range of the classroom, checked in a test run beforehand (for example outside the dining hall, the playground, the front entrance and the library), from 11.30 to 1.30, recording nothing but the sound level. For the first half hour the class watches the lines move and notes what causes each rise, such as the first lunch sitting arriving, and next lesson they read the full logged record from every board against the timetable. They build a noise map of the school showing the loudest and quietest places and times, and each child writes a paragraph recommending where a quiet reading garden should go.
Tools: micro:bit, MakeCode Nine ideas for your own version in Generate
This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and grade. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.